Some of the pictures showed young children being raped, Kingston Crown Court heard on Wednesday.

Prosecutor Denise Murrin said: “It stemmed from a fetish that he developed of little children’s feet and images of men kissing young children.”

The court heard Gower had originally searched for images of children aged between 12 to 14 but because of the shortage online, he had been “forced” to look for pictures of younger children between one to two years old.

Gower has paid out £2,100 for psychotherapy sessions and visited the Priory clinic, the court was told.

He had admitted four counts of making indecent images of children and five counts of making indecent movies of children.

He was given a 10-month suspended sentence for two years and a sexual offences prevention order.